Dede Sophie

 PNG Prime Minister Hon. James Marape has thanked all 118 MPs for their support over the last two weeks, culminating in yesterday’s (December 2, 2022) marathon session in which the 2023 Budget was overwhelmingly passed. He also announced that he is leaving for Sydney, Australia, today (December 3, 2022) to attend the 16th PNG Mining and Petroleum Investment Conference. PNG PM Marape [Left] Minister Duma [right] PM Marape said Deputy Prime Minister Hon. John Rosso was out of the country on duty travel in Europe and Africa, and in their absence, United Resource Party Leader and State Enterprises Minister Hon. William Duma would be Acting Prime Minister. “I will be out for the country for three days and will be back next Tuesday (December 6, 2022) afternoon,” he said. “I ask our people to give their support to Hon. Duma, who has been an MP since 2002, while he is Acting Prime Minister.” PM Marape appealed to everyone in Papua New Guinea for peace and calm during the Christmas and New Year

Alison McQueen, author of Under The Jeweled Sky Forbidden love set against the backdrop of a maharaja’s palace in post-World War II India is at the center of Alison McQueen’s new novel, Under the Jeweled Sky (Jan 21, 2014; $14.99 U.S.; Fiction; Trade Paper). Sophie Schofield always knew she would return to India. When she does in 1957, she is the new bride of ambitious British diplomat Lucien Granger and part of the glittering expatriate set that called New Delhi home following India’s partition. But it’s not the country she fell in love with 10 years earlier and Sophie is soon confronted with the memory of her first love and its devastating consequences. The past still haunts her – the guilt she carries, the destruction wreaked upon her fragile parents, and the boy with the tourmaline eyes. Join me in reading what Alison McQueen has to say about her research involving declassified diplomatic documents, and her love affair with India while writing this interesting book. Read more »